The Eye of the Beholder
by TL-chan
Summary: In which Hunter and the others learn the side-effects of divine power the hard way.


**AN:** Originally posted on tumblr. This is based on a conversation I had there on the concept of "Oracle Eyes", which certain characters get. Specifically, what would happen if they were permanently stuck on the Riders. I went with a humorous approach to it. Was trying to get back into the swing of writing longer/serious things, but a one-shot is what I could manage.

* * *

"Oracle Key!" When Hunter yells out those words, the key held above his head, bright lights immediately resonate around himself and Shadow. Their armor takes on new form. And then, just as suddenly as it begins, it comes to an end, and they re-emerge on the ground.

The war with the Insectors is over. It's been that way for a short time now. He doesn't need to use the keys to battle any dangerous enemy. Now, he has a different objective.

"Do you really think it will be any different this time, Hunter?" Shadow asks, not trying hard enough to hide how bored he is. Even though he does worry about Hunter, he still has to stand his ground when he thinks his Rider is being ridiculous.

"Yeah!" Hunter declares. He actually does sound convinced. "Weaning down on the number of Keys has to work. Less keys is less power, so the side effects from them have to be less too, right?"

"But transforming and de-transforming over and over with every combination just means you've used the Keys four times in one day," replied Shadow.

"Well…" Hunter wanted to argue, but he was starting to see Shadow's point. "Let me just de-transform again, and then it will be gone for sure!"

The process of changing back was a much quicker one than changing into the Oracle Key state. Hunter and his spider were quickly changed to regular form.

"So, are they gone?" he asked, looking to Shadow, and then to Corona, who was watching on the whole time.

"No," the girl answered, sounding disappointed.

"Aww… really?!" Hunter exclaimed.

"I don't think these eyes are ever going to go away," Corona said. "Yours or mine."

"Aqune has to have a solution!" Hunter shouted, not being the type to let anything get him down too much. "She knows more about the Oracle than anyone. I just hope she gets here soon."

Whenever a Spider Rider wielded the Keys, whenever an Oracle handmaiden summoned the power of an Oracle, their eyes would noticeably change form. This, Aqune explained, was because they would temporarily channel Spirit Oracle within themselves. In other words, they were like possessed vessels. The issue, however, was that both Hunter and Corona's eyes were now stuck like that, even when they weren't transformed. No matter what they did, where they went, they couldn't get it to turn off. Not that this stopped Hunter from doing any experiment he could imagine that might undo the process.

"It's not _that_ big a deal," Shadow said, trying to lift the mood. "It doesn't make you look all that different."

"Maybe it's not a big deal to you," replied Hunter. "But it's drawing too much attention. And not even a good kind."

"Well personally, I wouldn't mind avoiding people," the spider argued.

"Hunter! Corona!"

From the distance came Aqune's voice. She was approaching the pair from above, who waited in front of the castle. She had Buguese accompanying her, not that he wanted to see the Riders, or vice versa. Simply, it was quicker for Buguese to bring her from the Insector world with one of his flying machines than for her to travel all the way there alone.

"Hey!" Hunter called. He was excited partly because he was tired of waiting, but he was also happy to see her.

"Umm…" Once Aqune and Buguese dismounted, Corona took notice of something which concerned her. Something on her face. "You have them too?"

"Sorry," Aqune said. She looked embarrassed.

"But I thought you were going to help us, Aqune," Hunter asked. Half-whined, really. "How long did you have those eyes for?"

"Before you called for me," she replied. "I was already looking into it. It's rare, but there have been other cases of this condition before, in Oracle Handmaidens. I believe it's just an effect of tapping into a large degree of Spirit Oracle's power. Using the Oracle Keys so often, or drawing out their power in the case of Corona and I, likely caused this."

"Then, is there a cure?" Corona asked.

"Well…" Aqune paused. "I have been able to turn mine off temporarily. But…" her voice trailed off.

"Well that's a start!" Hunter said. "What did you do?"

"Umm…" she stared down at her feet, doing a poor job of hiding her flustered expression. "Sometimes, when I'm with Buguese… intimately…" She shook her head and looked up at them. "What I mean to say is, an Oracle Handmaiden must devote her heart, body and soul to Spirit Oracle above all things. To break such an oath weakens the effects."

"Then, we should…" Corona began, blushing too much to properly finish her thoughts. She wouldn't even look at Hunter to see what he thought about Aqune's idea.

"But it obviously is not permanent," Buguese spoke up, wanting to change the subject. "There must be a different solution."

"Well, I've been playing with the Keys all day, and it hasn't helped," Hunter responded, irritated. "You would think there was some place in this world where I could at least get contact lenses to hide it. It's just so annoying!"

"Contact lenses?" Shadow questioned.

"Forget it," Hunter replied. He wasn't sure how to explain, when he didn't even know if people in the Inner World had eyesight problems to begin with. "They're something from my world."

"Look! They're here!"

Both Hunter and Corona reflexively backed closer to the walls of the castle.

"What is it?" Aqune turned away from the two, only to see a group of people closing in.

"There's another!" someone shouted.

"What fortune!"

Before Aqune could do a thing, she was surrounded by villagers and very, very confused.

"Those eyes… " someone spoke.

"You must be chosen by Spirit Oracle."

"Well… yes…" Aqune answered. It was true, but it didn't make the situation any less uncomfortable.

Buguese was fuming already.

"Get away!" he shouted, pushing his way through the crowd, up to Aqune. He threw his cape around her. Aqune was rather relieved.

"No, you get away!" yelled back one from the crowd to Buguese. "Such a sacred being is too good to be tainted by your Insector hands!"

At the same time, some who couldn't get close to Aqune to begin with were closing in on Hunter and Corona.

"How lucky we are for the Spider Riders to be so blessed."

"Know that we will do anything you ask of us."

"Just say the word, and anyone would be happy to serve you in your time here on this world."

"Shadow, help…" Hunter mumbled. He was doing his best to ignore the banter of the crowd.

"Yeah, yeah," he replied, and proceeded to shoot a long thread up the side of the castle. "Quick, get on my back!"

"Thanks!" Hunter said. "You too, Corona!" He wasn't unconcerned for Aqune, but saw that Buguese had already leapt to a high window ledge with Aqune in his arms.  
"Wait! Please come back!" Similar cries came from others below. But soon, Shadow, Buguese, and the three Riders were on the castle's roof, safe.

"Sorry, Aqune!" Corona immediately exclaimed. "This is why it's gotten so bad for us."

"I see," Aqune said. She still appeared to be a bit in shock.

"I'm not sure quite when it started," Hunter added. "People were following us around, treating us like we actually _are_ Spirit Oracle. It was some kids at first. That wasn't so bad." He sometimes attracted the attention of kids in the village anyway, who thought it was cool to meet a real live Spider Rider. "But then the older people started too. They follow us everywhere, ask us for favors, for advice… I never knew having a cult was so scary."

"Aqune, you don't have the same problem?" Shadow wondered.

She shook her head.

"I suppose Insectors don't have the same devotion to Spirit Oracle. Many civilians haven't even met a real human before, so they might not even notice anything strange about the way my eyes look."

"It's not even all humans who are bothering us," Hunter replied. "Just these crazy ones."

"Well," Buguese spoke. "If they will truly do _anything_ you ask, then command them to their deaths and be done with it."

"We can't do that!" Hunter exclaimed.

"Yeah," Aqune replied. "But maybe… Maybe we could try to get them to dislike us. As long as we don't hurt them."

"You mean like, ask them to wake the prince up in the morning?" Corona replied, amused.

Aqune giggled. "Yeah, or train with Igneous."

"How about commanding them to spend the night in Magma's room?" Hunter added. "His snoring is like thunder!"

"All that will do is turn them against Lumen, Igneous and Magma," Shadow said. "To do this right, you need to turn them against one of you. I suggest serving them your cooking, Corona."

"Shadow!" Corona shouted, her face puffed up in anger. "My cooking has gotten a lot better!"

"Hey, I have an idea!"

Everyone turned around when an unexpected voice spoke up.

"Kyu!"

"Princess Sparkle?!" Corona exclaimed.

"Wh-what are you guys doing on the roof?" Hunter wondered.

"We were watching you," Sparkle replied. "We wanted to help, right, Hotarla?"

"Kyu, kyu!"

"I see," Aqune said. "But, do you really know how to help us?"

"Of course," Sparkle said. "The answer is simple. Just tell them you don't want to be followed. If they won't listen, you can say you were given a secret mission by the Oracle. So it's not safe to have anyone follow you."

There was silence for a moment, as the others considered.

Hunter's eyes would have widened if they could have. "…That might actually work," he replied.

"I think it will," Sparkle answered, reassuringly.

"Come on, everyone. Let's go try!" Hunter exclaimed.

"Guess it's worth a try," replied Shadow.

Sparkle gazed down from the rooftop, as the others quickly descended to the ground. She sighed to herself.

"Aww… they went away too fast, Hotarla. I wanted to ask them how I could get cool eyes like that too."


End file.
